Fukui Prefecture Tourism Information

The Fukui prefectural capital is Fukui City. The population of the prefecture is 800,000. The prefectural flower is narcissus and 3/4 of the prefectural land is forest. In Fukui City there is Ichijodani ruins that Sengoku Daimyo Asakura Yoshikage was based in. “Echizengani (Echizen crab)” and “Koshihikari (variety of rice)” are renowned as specialty products. Koshihikari is now in production all over the country, but it is a breed originally developed by Fukui Prefecture in 1956. Fukui rice is popular as the birthplace of Koshihikari. “Echizen coast”, “Mikatagoko (Mikata five lakes)”, “Tojinbo”, “Eiheiji (temple)”, “Obamanokosatsu (ancient temples in Obama)”, “Awara Onsen” and “Dinosaur Museum” are famous as tourist attractions. In addition, there are about 55 nuclear power plants throughout the country and 15 of them are located in Fukui Prefecture, and it has become national one agglomerations of nuclear power plants. In Katsuyama City, dinosaur fossils were excavated and Japan’s largest Dinosaur Museum was built. Dinosaur bones and other numerous specimens, dioramas, visual materials are on display in the museum, and it is one of tourism attractions in Fukui Prefecture where more than 500,000 people visit annually. Tojinbo in Sakai City is a cliff that is designated as a national natural monument. Overlooking the sea from the cliff as many as 25m of height is a masterpiece and you can also look up it from the sea using a pleasure boat. The origin of the name “Tojinbo” is derived from the monk “Tojinbo” who overlaid the evil and was pushed down from the cliff by Magaragakunen because of the tangle of romantic relationship. Awara Onsen in the city of Awara is a hot spring that continued from 1883. There are accommodations of 15 hotels in the spa town that is visited by one million people a year. Moreover, it is said that Fukui cannot be told without mentioning Echizen crab and Echizen crab that is caught off the coast Echizen is loved as the king of taste of winter. If you stay at hotels in Fukui, you can almost always see it. Tourists choose Fukui to visit to eat it. Echizen crab grows up in a tough environment and in the terrain that is suitable for the habitat of the crab off the coast of Echizen. It is sweet and delicious. The local cuisines are “Echizen Oroshi Soba“, which is the boiled buckwheat noodles that are eaten with the soup stock and grated radish, and “Saba no Heshiko“, which is the preserved food in winter that are pickles of salted mackerel.